Mt. Laurel Salary Dispute: School Board, Educators Exchange Words

MOUNT LAUREL TOWNSHIP — The Mount Laurel Township School Board President disputed the township's education association claims that association members were not offered a salary increase as part of the district's budget-making process.

"You may have heard a claim from the Mount Laurel Education Association or people communicating on its behalf that the Board rejected terms for a tentative agreement with teachers and school staff," School Board President Danielle Stuffo said at a school board meeting Tuesday.

"The claim is false," she said.

On March 8, the board's negotiation offered to settle with the association at a previously agreed-upon amount for the development of salary guides, Stuffo said.

Salary guides are "the method used to compensate teachers and most other school district employees throughout New Jersey," the New Jersey School Board Association states on its website.

"Had the association accepted the board’s offer, the settlement percentages would have been consistent with the Burlington County average for the 3-year term with salary increases above three percent," Stuffo continued. "Additionally, the board offered at its expense to improve insurance coverages available to employees in the first 3 years of their employment."

The association did not accept the board's offer at the March 8 meeting, according to Stuffo.

Stuffo's comments are "misleading," Doug Bozarth, Mount Laurel Education Association President and a math and social studies teacher within the district, told Patch.

The school board "decided when we met in March that they were not going to accept the salary guide that we created .... even though it addressed many of the issues that they had," he said in an interview after the school board meeting.

"When we got to the table, they told us that they had agreed to have different dollar amounts," Bozarth said. The association's request to have time to review the new salary guides prior to a meeting with the school board was denied, and thus the association refused to accept them, he continued.

The new salary guide is "based upon the number for salary guide development agreed to by the parties," Mount Laurel Superintendent George J. Rafferty said in an interview.

"Despite repeated requests [for an in-person meeting], currently, the association has not provided a date when it is available to meet," he added. "Once a meeting date is established the board's negotiations team will forward its proposed guides to the association in advance of the meeting."

The next school board meeting is on April 26 at 7 p.m. Harrington Middle School.

---

Hi there, South Jersey! Got a news tip? Story idea? Email me the details at janel.miller@patch.com. You can also get Patch local and statewide news alerts sent directly to your phone by downloading our new app.